THERE WERE FEW surprises at the top of a list detailing the world’s most powerful armies this week.
Global Firepower examined the defence forces of 68 countries in order to compile the rankings, taking into account manpower, land systems, air power, naval power, resources, logistics, finances and geography covered.
Nuclear capabilities were excluded from the survey “as the inclusion of such weapons would defeat the purpose of such comparisons”. The placings are based strictly on each nation’s potential conventional war-making capabilities across land, sea and air.
A formula with more than forty different factors was used and the data refined further with bonuses (for things like low oil consumption) and penalties (for example border/coastline coverage).
Check out the top 10, with some accompanying stats…(Spoiler: Ireland did not make the cut.)
Students of Brasilia’s military school attend a ceremony commemorating the Army Day in Brasilia, Brazil in 2011. (AP Photo/Eraldo Peres)
Two Italian Army soldiers on patrol with an Italian state police officer at a commuter railway station on the outskirts of Rome in 2008. (AP Photo Pier Paolo Cito)
South Korean special army soldiers demonstrate their martial arts skills during the 64th anniversary of Armed Forces Day at the Gyeryong military headquarters. (AP Photo/Lee Jin-man)
Chancellor Angela Merkel speaks to a German Army soldier who wears heavy explosion protection gear during a visit to the Army Training Centre of the German Armed Forces in Letzlingen. (AP Photo/Eckehard Schulz)
France’s President Francois Hollande, shakes hands with soldiers as he visits the army stand at the regional fair in Chalon en Champagne last year. (AP Photo/Michel Euler)
Soldiers from 32 Regiment Royal Artillery. (Ben Birchall/PA Archive)
Indian army soldiers of Sikh Light Infantry Regiment march during the Republic Day parade in New Delhi, India on 26 January 2011. The day marks the anniversary of India’s adoption of a democratic constitution. (AP Photo/Manish Swarup)
A Chinese soldier is reflected on a window glass as he stands guard during a media oppotunity for the coverage of China’s attack helicopter Z-9WZ at a Chinese Liberation Army base last year. (AP Photo/Andy Wong)
Wearing Red Army World War II-era uniforms, Russian troops march in the annual Victory Day parade at Moscow’s Red Square, Friday, 9 May 2008. (AP Photo)
1. USA
A US Army soldier holds keys of Saddam Hussein’s Al-Faw palace at the Camp Victory Complex in November 2011. (AP Photo/Khalid Mohammed)
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